dancinbcs

If you have ever had a wild cat attack you, you know it is no laughing matter. If it was feral they wouldn't have got near it but there are plenty of unowned domestic cats who have never been handled. They cannot be homed and cat bites cause huge infections. The vet nurse who worked at AWL when I was there had months off work with an infected cat bite. Poor officers trying to do the right thing but I expect the cat will have to be pts anyway.

Yep, I too love the flexi leads for relaxed walking in areas that are not off lead and in summer it is safer if they are not running loose due to the snake risk in the parks. I want them to have some freedom but not get more than 5 metres away from me so I can watch out for snakes. My flexi leads have about 60cm of thicker lead with a handle nearest the dog and if we see another dog I hold onto the short bit so I have full control. Otherwise the dogs are free to wander around sniffing while I walk in a straight line. They are not allowed to pull on any lead and quickly learn that if the brake is applied they have to stop. Around roads, other people and dogs, at shows and at the vets we use normal short leads. The flexi leads are only for use in deserted parks. I would never use them on a dog that was not trained to not pull on a lead.

I like the flat cooler packs that you can wrap around a bottle. Freeze them flat and cover with a towel so the puppies can stretch out belly down on them if they are really hot. My litter born in a heat wave used to scream if they were too hot.

I swear by it for my arthritis and have been taking it for about 5 years. Nothing else worked for me. I am now trialing a dog on the canine version but it has been less than a week, so will see what happens.

Up to date tetanus is a must for any puncture wounds or bites. To heal any puncture without it getting infected, bathe the injury once a day with something like Dettol, apply Ichthammol Ointment and cover if possible. My family have used this ointment on humans, dogs, cats and horses since before I was born and no one has ever needed antibiotics for a puncture wound, abcess or bite unless it was large enough to need stitching.

Yet another reason to use a "breeder's vet". Very few pet owning numpties in the waiting room so have never had a problem. It is interesting in the waiting room though when the wildlife vet is on. All these people sitting around with squirming hessian bags does make a few people do a double take as they walk in.

Pedigrees are important to me and a history of all litters bred with dates and parents so you can see what they are trying to achieve. Links to factual breed info are better than something made up to suit themselves. If you are going to illustrate colours make sure you have the correct names on the colours.

The lowest year for overall registrations was 2006 in the middle of the drought when so many bitches were missing or only having singletons. I know of breeders who mated up to 6 bitches over about 18 months and didn't get any in whelp. Another breeder with a medium size breed had 4 litters with 4 caesars in a month, for a total of just 7 live puppies. Since the drought broke these breeders have bred a couple of normal size litters a year. The other years the popularity of different breeds accounts for the changes. Breeds like Bull Terriers, Collies, Corgis, Dalmatians, Rotties, Dobes BCs and especially GSDs, all had turns at being too popular with shonky short term breeders cashing in on demand. When they work out it isn't such an easy way to make money they disappear and the numbers drop back to those just from dedicated breeders. Now it is the turn of SBTs and Amstaffs to be too popular and have way too many bred for the available homes. I am old enough to remember a time when Wire Fox Terriers, Cockers, Afghans and OES were the "must have" breeds but that was a long time ago before I was ever really involved with the dog world.

Black for me, with or without white markings in all animals. Dogs, cats and horses and I have been lucky enough to own all of them at different times. Second choice is white but only in long haired dogs and I now have an all white long haired dog. I hate white on short coats. Least favourites and ones I would never own are brindle and merle.

I always start weaning at 3 weeks when the teeth are in, starting with finely minced meat.

Mason Pearson Bristle/Nylon Brushes for coated breeds. Nothing else comes close.

I doubt you would have a problem with an entire Dally bitch and a desexed one but the Staffy X might complicate matters. Staffy's are not known for their tolerance of other bitches. I have always run mutiple entire BC bitches together with no problems.

I rarely ever got to see a placenta and definitely never got to check if they were complete. With a long coated breed that cleans the puppies as they come out, does the cords themselves and gulps down the placentas at the same time there is no way to count them. All the vets I have used have given oxy as routine at the after a whelping check and are happy to give experienced breeders a few shots to have on hand if you pick them up a day or so before the bitch is due. My current(repro specialist)vets request that we call them before using it during a whelping but if we are pretty sure they are finished we can give the final clean out shot a couple of hours after the last puppy and take them for the vet check later in the day.

I am quite surprised at all these late puppies. Don't most breeders use an oxytocin shot after they think the bitch is finished to make sure there are no more and that all the placentas have passed? I have always done this.

Most of the ACT vets are very expensive compared to those over the border in NSW. I have friends who travel from the southern side of Canberra to Yass to a better vet who charges less.

Some great advice here and don't forget he is still very much a puppy at 5 months old and will not be 100% reliable to commands for some time yet. It is a ongoing process that takes time and maturity. Also keep in mind that Poodles are very smart and have a sense of humour. Sometimes they can be very inventive in their interpretation of commands.

Very well said :clap:

I have heard of up to 48 hours later but it should never happen if you have a proper vet check after whelping. An oxytocin shot 2 hours after the last puppy and full vet check within a few hours prevents prolonged labour and late puppies.

The correct way to breed dogs is to find a suitable dog for a bitch for each litter, usually not the same one each time but ones who can bring in lines you want and correct things better with each litter. You do not go and look for a bitch for your dog, that is doing things back to front. If you do decide to become a breeder you should buy the best bitch you can get your hands on but when she grows up, your dog may not suit her even if the lines are compatible. It is a huge step to buy in a bitch to breed one litter from your dog. If you keep a daughter to go on with you still cannot use your dog for the next generation. Better to check with the dog's breeder, have all the health tests done, put some working titles on the dog and hope someone else will want to breed from him.

I don't know, extra hair can become a problem with herding a hunting breeds, overheating, hindering movement, collecting seeds and burrs etc and not being able to see. I think that's why the more extreme versions of some breeds should be kept in the show ring. By all means breed them if you want but they aren't built for their original purpose anymore. Everything is exaggerated beyond use. Which herding and hunting breeds are you speaking of, MUP? Collie roughs, bc, shetland, OESD. Not so much the hunting. Perhaps some of the gun dogs Is you seriously work those breeds, they don't grow profuse coats. I know of show BCs that have had huge coats then never grown a decent coat again if they take on serious herding work. You can have a big coated show dog and it's working litter mate with completely different coats. I have been in the breed long enough to remember when puppies went to both show and work homes from the same litter and the working ones never had a "show coat". It just doesn't grow. Also keep in mind that a lot of what you see coat wise in the show ring is grooming tricks. The coats look nothing like that at home between baths and shows.

Just browsed through the PDS for Woolworths Pet insurance. It has so many exclusions and limits that it is completely useless. Nothing that has ever happened to my dogs is covered and they do not cover ongoing chronic conditions after the first year when they are diagnosed. I have never found any policy that covers anything I am likely to claim for.

Yes, the hip ligaments loosen when they whelp and can take some time to firm up again depending how active the bitch has been before and after whelping. I had one hyper girl who who never slowed down at all and managed to get her hips a good cm out of the sockets after whelping. Three months of vitamin C, swimming and walking her pulling into a harness and the hips were back were they should have been. I would wait at least 3-4 months after whelping to do hips if possible.

Maltese registrations are down from their highest level of 2006 in 1994 making them nearly as numerous as Border Collies. At the time they were still a rare breed in the showring due to the coat maintenance on a showdog but were extremely popular as pets. Well bred purebred Malts are wonderful little dogs, very smart and quite easy to train. I have never seen an aggressive one and had a friend who used to successfully trial several in obedience. I cannot see what you could improve on by crossbreeding them. For some bizzare reason the ill informed public prefer the crossbreds.

For me lack of sufficient shade is the biggest problem with dogs on utes. No dog should ever be confined with no shade. the other worry is that the dog has no protection in the event of an accident. A well secured crate with a solid insulated top is the only way dogs should travel on the back of utes on public roads.

That's been my observation too - at training, generally the kelpies are all fixated on a ball/each other, the bords are hanging out with their owner and the Aussies are running around playing! That pretty much sums up the three breeds and not all of them are high drive. A nice show line dog with the right attitude, of any of those breeds can be easily trained to be a very successful agility dog even if it isn't the fastest. High drive isn't necessary in a dog with the right temperament as it will simply do whatever the owner trains it to. It is just a matter of getting the right puppy from a litter.